9-bedroom Connecticut palace of ‘Queen of Mean’ Leona Helmsley goes on block for $65 million + MORE Jul 28th

VANCOUVER – The Keg Royalties Income Fund (TSX:KEG.UN) says that the restaurants in its group had a 9.6 per cent increase in sales for the second quarter, reflecting a combination of higher same-store sales and one additional location.
The fund’s royalty income for the three months ended June 30 was $5.04 million, up from $4.7 million a year earlier.
The royalties are based on a percentage of sales at Keg steak restaurants in Canada and the United States.
In the latest quarter, there were 103 restaurants in the royalty pool representing $125.4 million of sales, up $10.97 million from a year earlier when there were 102 locations in the pool.
Distributions paid to holders of the fund’s units were unchanged at $2.725 million or 24 cents per unit, or about 98.9 per cent of the cash available for distribution.
Keg Royalty units closed Monday at $16.24 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The post Keg Royalties sees stronger Q2 sales at its steak restaurants appeared first on Canadian Business.

___
US companies increasingly fish for growth overseas
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Major U.S. companies are starting to reap their most rapid growth in fertile lands of opportunity far from home.
Technology trendsetters Apple Inc., Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Netflix Inc. all mined foreign countries to produce earnings or revenue that exceeded analysts’ projections in their latest quarters. Prodded by the steadily rising demand for Internet access and online services in developing countries, these technology companies will likely be wading even deeper into overseas markets for years to come.
The intensifying international focus extends beyond technology. Century-old companies such as Coca-Cola Co. and Ford Motor Co. also are hoping to make more money in countries including China and India.
___
Dollar Tree steps up fight, buys Family Dollar
NEW YORK (AP) — The fight for penny pinchers is intensifying.
Dollar Tree said Monday it is buying rival discounter Family Dollar for $8.5 billion, significantly broadening its reach as it looks to fend off Wal-Mart, which has been stepping up its courtship of lower-income customers
The deal makes Dollar Tree the biggest player in the dollar store segment, with its more than 13,000 combined locations eclipsing current leader Dollar General Corp…

OTTAWA – The high level of anonymity and lack of regulation associated with Bitcoin transactions may make the virtual currency “an attractive payment method for criminals,” warns a newly disclosed Finance Department memo.
The internal memo, prepared for former finance minister Jim Flaherty, says while the degree of criminal activity involving Bitcoin is unclear, some have raised flags about its potential to fund illicit behaviour.
Bitcoin is a digital currency exchanged through computer transactions without the oversight of a central bank.
Users can install a Bitcoin wallet on their computer or mobile phone, which will generate a special address to which others can send payments.
“With the press of a computer button, you’ve transferred the value,” said Christine Duhaime, a lawyer and certified financial crime and anti-money laundering specialist.
Transactions are sent to a public network for verification. As the memo to Flaherty notes, although both parties’ Bitcoin and Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses are transmitted to the public network, no additional information is provided about either user…

GREENWICH, Conn. – The Connecticut mansion that belonged to Leona Helmsley is on the market for $65 million after a three-year renovation.
The mansion known as Dunnellen Hall is on 40 acres in Greenwich with distant views of Long Island Sound.
The Greenwich Time reports (http://bit.ly/1rU6Ntn ) that the mansion features an entry room with an elevator and limestone walls and flooring, a 45-foot living room, a library, nine bedrooms, and a game room.
The hotel owner and real estate baroness served 21 months in prison for evading federal taxes by billing her businesses for mansion renovations. Called the “Queen of Mean,” she died in the mansion in 2007 at age 87.
In the renovation, a service kitchen, rooms for staff and three swimming pools were removed. An audio-visual system and new landscaping were added.
___
Information from: Greenwich Time, http://www.greenwichtime.com
The post 9-bedroom Connecticut palace of ‘Queen of Mean’ Leona Helmsley goes on block for $65 million appeared first on Canadian Business.

(Photo by Maya Visnyei)
The hit Canadian TV show Property Brothers follows a formula as rigid as a newly sistered floor joist. Real-life twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, the former a real estate agent and the latter a contractor, meet a couple searching for a new home. After listening to their list of “must-haves”—soaker tub, gourmet kitchen, ensuite bathroom—they tease the prospective buyers by wowing them with a swish pad far beyond their price range. Next, it’s off to view a more affordable but dumpier abode that inevitably draws such reality TV-esque observations as, “When I walked in, I was, like, no.” Unfazed, the winsome brothers–tall, stubbly faced and each capped with a lustrous head of hair–transform the ugly duckling into a magazine-worthy swan through an epic renovation (compressed to the show’s 60-minute run time), making sure to encounter a few dramatic surprises and setbacks along the way.
Now in its fourth season, Property Brothers airs in Canada on the W Network and on HGTV in the United States, where it’s among the U…